## Facts

- St. Lawrence Cement Co., L.L.C. sought New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) air permits to operate a “sludge-to-cement” facility in Camden’s Waterfront South neighborhood.
- Waterfront South was a low-income, predominantly minority area with a high concentration of contaminated sites and air-emissions-permitted facilities.
- South Camden Citizens in Action and individual residents opposed the permits, alleging the permitting decision would worsen existing pollution burdens and have an unjustified disparate impact based on race and national origin.
- Plaintiffs did not allege intentional discrimination; they relied on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations implementing Title VI that prohibit unjustified disparate-impact discrimination by federal funding recipients.

## Issues

1. Whether plaintiffs may use 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to enforce disparate-impact regulations promulgated under Title VI § 602 against a state environmental agency.
2. Whether EPA’s Title VI implementing regulations unambiguously confer individual “rights” cognizable under § 1983, given that Title VI § 601 is privately enforceable only for intentional discrimination.

## Decision

- The Third Circuit reversed the district court’s preliminary injunction.
- The court held that EPA’s Title VI disparate-impact regulations do not create rights enforceable under § 1983.
- Because plaintiffs’ injunction depended on § 1983 enforcement of those regulations, the federal basis for injunctive relief failed.
- The court did not reach the merits of plaintiffs’ disparate-impact evidence regarding the permitting decision.

## Legal Principles

- After Alexander v. Sandoval, private plaintiffs cannot enforce Title VI § 602 disparate-impact regulations through an implied private right of action under Title VI.
- § 1983 is available only to enforce federal rights unambiguously conferred by Congress; agency regulations cannot, by themselves, create enforceable § 1983 rights when the underlying statute does not confer them.
- Title VI, as Spending Clause legislation, is primarily enforced through federal agency oversight of funding conditions unless Congress clearly authorizes private enforcement.
- Courts will not permit § 1983 to function as an indirect means to obtain private enforcement of disparate-impact rules that are not privately enforceable under the statute.

## Conclusion

The Third Circuit held that EPA’s Title VI disparate-impact regulations do not confer privately enforceable rights under § 1983, and it reversed a preliminary injunction that had blocked operation of a permitted facility based solely on a disparate-impact theory.


S. Camden Citizens in Action v. N.J. Dep't of Env't Prot., 274 F.3d 771 (3d Cir. 2001)